12 ga slug powder question

[fecmech]

Gentlemen--I bought the Lee 7/8 oz. slug mould so that my daughter could practice shooting and operating her 870 pump gun which she will be using for home defense. Ranges are going to be short and I'm mainly concerned with her being very familiar with a pump and hitting close range targets. Is there any reason why I can not use Red Dot or 700x shot loadings (16-17grs for 1200 fps with 7/8 shot loads) with these 7/8 oz slugs? I see no reason to beat the snot out of her with standard slug loads and have her afraid of the gun. Thanks Nick

[DLCTEX]

I loaded down some buckshot loads for my DIL to practice with her home defense gun. She keeps full power loads in it for serious occasions. She figures that if she has to use it, she won't notice recoil. The slower powders may give a softer recoil. I used SR7625. Load a few and try them, then go up or down in power as needed. DALE

[longbow]

I never used to substitute any components in shotshells because all my manuals say it can be very dangerous. Pressures can increase significantly with just a primer or wad substitution.

However, after much research and discussion with others on this site and others I have found out that slug loads have less bore friction than shot loads so the general view is that an equal weight slug can be substituted for shot. In your case 7/8 oz. slug for 7/8 oz. shot.

I have tried this myself so far with no problems except that some shot loads replaced by slugs do not develop enough pressure to get a complete powder burn. This is generally with slow powders in my experience (Blue Dot last time). I've also found that I got pretty good results using a heavier shot load recipe with a slightly lighter slug using faster powder like Unique (say 1 1/8 oz. shot load replaced by 1 oz. slug).

The short story is that using a slug to replace an equal weight shot load should be perfectly safe but don't go making other component changes at the same time ~ follow a published recipe.

Longbow